Student Competition

Displays Language Skills

The Doors' Jim Morrison lives on today as an English teacher. That is, he still speaks the language of poetry and music to 18-year-old Uri Tal.

Tal, a student in the English for Speakers of Other Languages program at Nova High School, performed his rendition of Morrison's L'America at the ESOL Academic Competitions in February.

"Jim Morrison for me is God," said Tal, who came from Israel four years ago. "His poetry talks to me."

Tal's performance also seemed to talk to his judges; he won first place in advanced declamation, or dramatic performance, at the high school level.

Tal and about 400 middleand high-school students from 22 county public schools competed in one of seven individual or team categories designed to spotlight the progress they have made in learning English and understanding American culture.

While most of the competitions were performance programs, two of the events celebrated the students' artistic creativity.

About 17 Fort Lauderdale High School students assembled a project called Diversity, for which they won top honors. And the first-place-winning team of Olsen Middle School students used computer graphics and posters to compare life in Florida today with the time when Indians were in control.

Several skits had distinctly American themes, with titles such as George Washington Goes Back to the Future and America - What a Country!

"It helps them develop their language proficiency," said Mayra Menendez, ESOL coordinator for the school district. "Sometimes you're afraid to speak your second language."

Students preserve their native heritage while in the ESOL program through other special events such as multicultural fairs, she said. "In no way is [the competition) meant to take away from their own culture," Menendez said.

But some students brought parts of their old country to the six-year-old competition. Nova Middle School students wrote and performed a skit describing how they celebrate the new year in their native countries.

Coral Springs High School ninth-grader and Taiwan native Christina Tang wrote notes in Mandarin Chinese on her copy of a Shel Silverstein poem called Sick, to help her learn the piece.

The students said the competition gives them a good opportunity to overcome their shyness.

"I want to get used to people," said Chavlet Saint-Charles, a 10th-grader at Northeast High School in Oakland Park who read a poem called I'm Not Good Enough?

"I also want to make my family proud of me," said Saint-Charles, who came from Haiti more than four years ago.